My Tree

When I was a kid, there was nothing like climbing a tree… There was this (what I thought at the time) GIANT tree in my front yard that was perfect for climbing (and was used as first base when we played baseball in the front yard)… I remember doing solo climbs that would reach the highest possible point and still hold an 8 year old boy. Looking onto the roof of my house, the neighbors backyard, the ground below and starring at miscellaneous stuff made me feel larger than life… In the summer months I would be barely visible from the ground and nearly invisible to the world and onlookers below… The Fall yielded an amazing time of year for this tree, as we would rake massive piles of leaves under it and leap from the branches into it’s softness… In the winter months it was so cold that only with the aid of a stocking cap and gloves could I last more than a few minutes at the top… The spring time would yield new and missing branches and the prospect of school ending soon.

This tree was the place that I would run to when my friends were not around and my big brother wanted nothing to do with me. This was the place that I would run when my mother was mad at me, or I was mad at her, and this was the place that I would run after dinner to hide so that I would not have to do dishes (which rarely worked)…

I mention this particular tree, because looking back, I feel that it must have been the origin of something inside of me. I am not sure what, but I think that I must have found the answers to at least some of life’s complicated issues in the arms of it’s branches.

I miss that tree…

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Going to a big garage sale out by where my brother lives in the burbs tomorrow morning. I hope that someone is getting rid of old records, actions figures, a remote controlled car and an old Macintosh.

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Thinking about writing a song in Garageband… I think that I will title it “Lester’s Dream”.

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Hide your children’s eyes and buckle down the hatches… Uncle Banjo is going to make an appearance next week.